Like a Paper
by NollyLvn
Summary: Can you guess what a reflection of yourself reflects about you? Death. Will you keep the sanity? Persona 3 -AU
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Can you guess what a reflection of yourself reflects about you? Death. Minato/Yukari AU.

Massive OOC-ness.

If you're reading this (though I doubt it), EternalCombOver, hello, your Majesty, how are you?

On to the story we go.

''

 **Like a Paper**

 **Chapter 1: Alphabetically Untrue**

''

"You look awful."

A boy said one evening to a little brunette who was stepping furiously on a bush of roses, her legs bled partially due to the thorns. The girl didn't even spare him a glance, though she did stop the stomping, "Go away."

The boy, Arisato Minato, merely stood still there, eyeing the tattered petals of red on the ground, acting as if he didn't hear her response earlier. This pissed the girl, Takeba Yukari, off. "What are you looking at? I said go away!" She shouted while hastily grabbing the nearest shaft of roses and then threw them at him. She couldn't care less for a nosy stranger like him; he could die for all she cared.

But she was surprised when he caught the roses instead, and went crouching on her, she simply watched as Minato planted the broken flowers on the ground. She wasn't sorry for destroying the flower, but she flinched when she saw his hands bleeding a little too. Just like hers.

A moment of silence passed before Yukari chose to break it. "You can't grow them back, they won't live anymore." If he had heard her, he didn't show it, and kept attempting to plant the pitiable flowers. "It's futile, just stop it."

She, despite her words, hoped that he'd finish what he started. It's rare to see someone as nature-loving as him nowadays. Or he's just a sore freak.

"It's not a matter of futility or not, it's a matter whether you give it up or not." Yukari stayed silent, didn't have any idea how to reply to that. Little kids like them shouldn't normally be talking about stuff like that, right? "It'll be alright," he reassured her, the girl snorted at this. He proceeded to stand up, swiping the dust off his pants while adding, "I can see them too."

This took her aback, "You can see them?" The blue haired boy shrugged as if it was meant to be. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Was all she could think to state.

Minato smiled amidst all, "The same goes for you too." He glanced for a second to a window beside Yukari; she clenched her fists subconsciously, eyeing the boy in suspicion then to the window, which held a faint reflection of her within it. "I can only see their deaths." That instant, her faint self in the glass cracked, vomiting blood. Yukari, however, watched it die expressionlessly, already witnessing it thousands of times.

Minato furrowed his eyebrows, walked to the window, told Yukari to do the same too before claiming, "That," pointing to her half-dead reflection in the window, "is you." She stared at him blankly; she _knew_ that. He continued after seeing her perplexed face, "And your death."

She contemplated the idea, and she reached a conclusion, "I don't believe you." She looked him from head to toe, then, "You're probably out of your mind. Ugh, why do I bother listen to you?" Yukari asked herself in dissatisfaction; she too, whipped the dirt off her short skirt. True that the both of them could see what others couldn't, but how daring of him to say that's how she'd die!

"No, it's a fact. You just have to accept it." He touched his own reflection, it seemed to smile at him, and did the same as him, touching its owner in the same manner. They looked like a twin. Yukari averted her eyes to her own reflection in the window, which was now dead.

"Whatever, you're crazy. I don't want to waste my time on someone like you." She turned her heels, trying to get away from there as far as humanly possible. After a few steps, she looked back at the strange boy. He was replanting the limp roses she had blindly stomped earlier. She stared, and stared, and stared, until it frustrates the hell out of her. "Damn it! They are not going to grow!"

He exhaled and stood up, leaning on one leg. "You can't revive them, what are you so upset for? They are not coming back to life even if you destroy all the roses you see." He deadpanned, no longer caring about the lifeless flowers on the ground. He looked at her bleeding legs and fingers, seemed like she had punched a window with her bare hands at some point. "I, too, watched my parents die, and so I was gifted with this." Yukari didn't give any response. "Then I accepted my death."

Did she hear him, right? "Say what?"

Okay, let's clear this up. She met a boy who, like her, could see one's reflection of demise; the dude planted dead roses, and crazily enough, said he had died. Would you blame her if she just decided to hit the dude in the head and left him dying on the road? Then maybe a kind car would run over him.

Yukari was seriously entertaining the idea in her mind when he spoke, "Easy enough, you just have to die." He smirked dully when he saw the girl dropped her jaw, giving him an incredulous look.

She decided she had had enough of his cultish preach. "I'm sorry to have bothered your time, Sir." She once again turned around, walking so fast she sprained her ankle. She fell down hard, hitting her head to ground. She cried aloud, holding her head that felt like it was going to explode anytime soon, though she was sure it was the depression acting up. She tried to get up but her wounded legs, hands, and head gave up on her. When was the last time she had eaten anything? Surely, not having something to digest for two days straight had taken its toll on her, she learned it the hard and humiliating way. Just as she was giving mourns on fate, her eyes are suddenly overshadowed by the boy's figure.

"Before we talk about the heavy things," he paused, staring down silently at her. She once again decided to not give him the merry of a response. He realized what she was thinking, then, with a little move of his lips, he smirked in amusement. "Let's fix you first."

She felt dizzy looking at him.

''

My first Persona 3 fanfiction, please forgive the sluggish writing. I'm not sure if I'll upload this or not, but, well, if you're reading this, I'm probably going to facepalm at myself later.

So, kind readers, any thought?

03/06/2016 ~NollyLvn


	2. Chapter 2

Pretend I'm not writing this on an exam week.

''

 **Like a Paper**

 **Chapter 2: Bevel**

''

Yukari saw herself being taken to a small, well-kept house in a pretty neat outskirt area. She intended to ask whether if this was his house or not, but chose against it since she didn't want him to even hear her voice. The girl was wary. This boy could be an axe-murderer and she wouldn't know. She planned an escape strategy although she would have to render him immobile for it to success. She looked around for any sharp things to be used as a weapon and was grateful to God as near the corner of what seemingly a living room, there placed a baseball bat. She walked to it and sat on a wooden seat beside her desired item just in case.

Out of the blue, she noticed that neither of them had spoken a word since a half hour ago.

"You really look awful." Minato said, gazing her bleeding self. He was in no great condition either, but at least noticeably better than her.

Yukari furrowed her eyebrows, wasn't he look awful, too? Look at his hands where the blood had dried visibly; she wouldn't say that _not_ awful. "I don't want to hear that from you." She spat, but inside, she suddenly became self-conscious and touched her shoulder-length hair. She couldn't be _that_ ugly, right? Immediately looking to the window beside her, she was met by her reflection. The girl let out a long, exasperated sigh. _For once, evil-me, don't make me suicidal._ Her reflection stared her down for a few seconds, before bursting out a maniacal laugh and produced blood from its eyes, hands violently pulling out its hair. "Stop," she shakily said to the mirror.

It didn't stop. It kept killing itself in order to simply piss her off. It seemed to take gratified pleasure in doing so. Yukari watched in horror as it die, and die, and die, and die, and di-

Crash!

The window shattered into million pieces, leaving Yukari's hands, once again, bleeding viciously because she punched the thin glass without much thought. She gaped for air –at least, it's stopped now- and suddenly became conscious of the existence of another person in the room. Minato saw it all with mildly uninterested eyes, he knew the girl would do stupid things, and destroying a stranger's windows wasn't excluded from the list. The blue haired boy raised one of his eyebrows, waiting for whatever it was that the seemingly mentally unstable girl would utter.

"…I didn't mean to-"

Minato's chuckle cut her off. How funny could the situation be? "Look at what you have done, kid, I'm sure you meant to." As if to voice its own fury at the window-punching culprit, the last remaining cracked glass on the frame fell loudly. Yukari decided against the idea of protesting being called a kid –he was no older than her himself, for what she could see- that looking intently at the floor so deep in embarrassment and self-pity was a good idea. "Well, Mitsuru will probably kill me."

Five minutes of suspenseful silence later, Yukari was no longer drowning in self-pity and instead hated the guy who technically just saved her. It couldn't pass her mind as to how he accepted his death. Had he really died or he was just messing with her? Why was it only her reflection which kept dying at her sight and not his too? When would this over? What sin had she done to deserve this curse? Whose fault was this?

Her inability to answer her own questions suffocated her. She averted her eyes to Minato, who was taking a sip of his cold tea, with a look that if looks could kill he would be dead thrice. He frowned at the murderous glare, "Is there any problem?" Being on the cover of a newspaper for teenage-mysterious-death was not on his plan in the next five to more years.

Oh, there _were_ sure as hell problems, young man. "Yes." What is this place? Why are you taking me here? Who else lives here? Are you a kidnapper? Why are you sitting so far away from me, are you hiding something behind your back? What are you gonna do to me? "Yes, there are."

"Spill."

Yukari clicked her tongue in annoyance, were his words expensive or what? "There's a lot I want to ask," she admitted, touching the baseball bat softly, ambiguously. "But, first of all, tell me why you are helping me." She demanded guardedly. "Depending on the answer, I'll either flee or escape in a minute."

She realized both flee and escape meant the same; but whatever, she was practically kidnapped and correcting grammar was never her hobby.

"Honestly," the boy started, "I don't even know." He admitted incredulously, not looking at her gawking face. "You looked awful –you still do- you could just murder some random people on the street and I couldn't care less. I just wanted to… I don't know."

So, according to him, could you guess who the insane one was?

"And I thought maybe you can be of some use for us."

Well, that's very legit, she'd say. Wait… "Us?" Yukari saw him opened his mouth to mutter some, she was sure, unbelievable facts about the human-slaving bastard the he maybe was. "S-So that's true all along! You're going to sell me to some stupid Japanese slave industry and party with your despicable friends, am I wrong?!"

Minato stared at her in disbelief. _What the hell._ "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not wrong! I know kids like you who make yourselves look innocent and cute and whatever that's going to make the adults melt and give you what you want and you're going to stab them in the back." She said in a single breath. To say the girl was frantic would be a serious understatement. "You've taken the wrong opponent, son." At this point, Yukari no longer cared if she sounded like some ridiculous pervert; she took the baseball bat, it was surprisingly heavy she stumbled a little. Or she was just weak. The brunette swung it at him fiercely, she was half scared that the boy's head would be flying but she couldn't stop now; not when her life was in danger. "It won't work on me, asshole!"

The boy ducked and, expectedly, the bat slipped off her fingers and flew to the TV beautifully. It hit the big screen just right in the middle, breaking it in half like a shark attacked it. "Ah, shit!" He cursed. " _Mitsuru will definitely kill me!_ " He emphasized every word as if his life depended on it –which, it was. "Quick, help me throw this outside!"

"No," refused the girl as she walked to a door she assumed to be the bathroom selfishly.

''

Yukari drowned herself in the bubbly and warm water. "Ahh." She exclaimed subconsciously. She really liked it. How long had it been since the last time she had taken a bath? More than a week, she supposed. It was hard enough to take her mind off people's roses, let alone thinking of showering herself in bubbly and warm waters.

It was weird; to take a bath in a random person she just met a few hours ago. It was also weird, to avoid looking too long into the water. It might reflect her there and she was not in the mood to deal with one of her own deaths, even though it was not real. Her deaths rubbed off on her mentality, it would seem. Say, person, what kind of normal girl would refuse to enjoy the luxury of taking an hour of self-coddling time with soaps, scrubs, and shampoos? The brunette would like to refer to herself as a normal girl, but her latest action couldn't seem to tangibly contribute to her wish.

"Shit!" She heard the stupid, annoying voice cussed outside.

Yukari didn't give two damns about it, meekly sighed in contentedness and sunk herself even more into the bathtub. Funny how she forgot her love of taking baths. She blamed it all onto the circumstance; were it not for them, she'd be sleeping soundly on her adored bed –which was now burnt, thanks, fate. After a full moment of putting the guilt to kismet and her damned bad luck, she tried to hear what the rustle outside the lavatory was about. That lousy Minato boy wouldn't try anything not even funny as to bark in the bathroom now, would he? She made a face at herself for remembering his name.

Her attention shifted for a second to her water. It was no longer creamy with soap, it was now red with her blood.

"I need to get rid of this irrational hatred towards him." The girl announced in a low murmur as she stole a reassuring glance to the baseball bat she had taken into the bathroom. Just in case.

''

As soon as Yukari walked out the bathroom, a small mirror was literally shoved into her face, making the girl yelp in surprise. "Oh, God! What's your problem?" Actually, the event itself didn't irritate her as much as the fact that she was thankful that she HAD dressed.

"Check out your reflection, does it still die?" Minato said, shoving the piece of mirror even deeper. As a matter of fact, it still died; within the last ten seconds, Yukari managed to watch one painful death of her mirror image. She twitched at it biting its own tongue. Wouldn't, in her damned life, she'd afford to die like that. Not in blazing hell. It was about to start collecting itself again when she waved aside his hand in surrender, she lost the hope in finding normalcy in this boy in front of her. Also the chance of getting rid of her now rational hatred towards him.

That did it. The brunette put two and two together. She put a loving smile on her pretty face, took her proclaimed baseball bat, and went to the front door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Away from your crazed ass, sucker. "I still have fifteen kids to feed, monsieur." She lied of course; the depressed, mad boy would believe her anyway, right? "The case of Apathy Syndrome is spreading fast, sir, as a president leading the group of getting rid of it, I have to go save the world from the hands of evil." Pshew, she mused to herself, it was cliché as heck. Then, gracefully, she walked to the door, only for it to be opened by a flaming red haired girl.

Oh? A friend of his? Was she insane, too? "Please excuse me." Yukari muttered as she slipped off the door, only for her to be blocked by an old man.

Actually, his hair was white but he looked as young as the red hair nonetheless. "Not so fast, missus." The guy said as he held her arm, preventing her to walk to the door. Yukari exhaled through her nose and thought of biting the muscular arm off and make a run for it. But she concluded it was a mission impossible, since there would be three teenagers who had lost their reasons. Then she remembered a point.

"Are you Mitsuru, ma'am?" She questioned politely despite the seemingly short age gap between them –she was probably older by a year or two from Yukari. "I witnessed that guy over there," she pointed to Minato, who was busy thinking of ways to make the girl stop blabbering her mouth, "has broken your TV. And he said some monster named Mitsuru will kill him."

If Minato were an impolite kid, he would say 'damn cunning bitch' at a time like this. He was glad he was a controllable kid, even though, in all ends you'd see it, you'd realize that his life was in danger.

The red head shifted her focus to said guy. "What about me killing you?" Mitsuru's voice brought chill down Minato's spine. He could already see a garden of cosmos in his head. She diverted her eyes to Yukari again, and was about to ask who she was in the first place when her deep, reddish grey eyes averted themselves to the broken television behind Minato. Mitsuru decided to overlook the stranger inside her house, to stab vicious glares into Minato's head. "Tell me, Minato Arisato." She demanded in her cold, cold voice, even Yukari suddenly felt eerie.

A gulp. "Y-Yes?"

"Tell me one reason why I should _not_ murder you in cold blood now."

All the while the confused brunette just stood there, weighing the idea should she volunteer herself in the crime or not.

She fell on a wise verdict to turn tail as far and fast as possible. If there were going to be a murder, she'd always gladly choose to not get involved in the blood-splattering commotion that was about to happen. She felt bad for Minato –she appreciated the loaning of the bath, really- but she fancied her life enough to know what danger meant.

She made a bolt for the door, it was the only boundary. After she went through past it, she hopped on the short stairs in joy. "Good bye, Minato, it was fun while it lasted!"

A second later, she tripped over a sleeping dog and kissed the stairs hard, almost killing herself in the process were it not for the dog pushing her aside, saving her ass. There was a freaking axe beside the dog. Just what, in the name of Deus, was wrong with this house?

She stared at the dog in disbelief; firstly, she almost ripped her face in half by accident; secondly, she was saved by a _dog_.

Thirdly, a bulky guy appeared behind the dog, hovering over her sprawled self on the ground. Yukari saw his face and was instantly convinced she was in a big, bloody mess.

She gulped in fear, needless to say, seemed like her life didn't fancy her enough to not have the blood splattered on her nevertheless.

''

There goes chapter two. Also, I want to thank **LastDragonBorn** and **larlz** for noticing the existence of this weird fiction I've somehow chosen to post. Thank you, at least now I know someone actually read this :)

Anyone likes Devil Survivor 2, too?

So, kind readers, any thought?

03/25/2016 ~NollyLvn


	3. Chapter 3

Toothaches are the _worst_. Pure reincarnated evils.

''

 **Like a Paper**

 **Chapter 3: Chicken**

''

Five teenagers plus one dog were now sitting on chaise lounge in living room. They all had their eyes to the stranger brunette at one edge of the couch, making said girl shifted uncomfortably. Forcefully taken inside the damned house again, Yukari kicked and screamed hard, however, no one appeared concerned about the ruckus she was making. Her resistance went in absolute vain.

The scary, bulky guy spoke first, breaking the intense silence, "I caught her kicking Koromaru outside."

Minato eyed said girl with an unreadable expression, though Yukari was sure he was arranging a party in his head after the little stunt she pulled on him earlier. He must be happy for the seizure of her short-lasting delight she had after backstabbing him with a lousy quibble. Come to think of it, she felt dehumanized after thinking it through.

"I think we should smite her." The scary guy stated firmly, he observed her with blasé eyes. The brunette wasn't sure if he was seriously upset or just doing that for the hell of it, though she was convinced by the lethargy in his slumped body on the couch. Half of his body was actually sunken into the cushy sofa, making his back looked glued into the soft material, and he seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. "Can't let the girl kick dogs no more."

Oh, what stars had she been born under to receive such fate?

Yukari had no remorse whatsoever of dying, in fact, she would be glad for her disposal. It was a pleasure to be freed of these pains she suffered. But the method just didn't fit her taste. She preferred dying on a good cause, not because she tripped over some random napping dog.

Indiscriminately, the brunette grew to dislike the party in front of her.

"You're overreacting, Shinji," the white haired guy exclaimed, crossing his hands over his chest. Mitsuru clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Akihiko, we must cogitate the facts that she has trodden our window, busted our TV, and kicked Koromaru," said the redhead thoughtfully.

"Point of interruption; I tripped. I didn't kick the dog intentionally." Yukari argued and swore she heard a snicker from Minato a second ago.

"Same thing," commented the bulky guy, Aragaki Shinjiro. He seemed unyielding in the term of setting her demise. The brunette glanced towards the window and, without much surprise, saw her reflection slit its own throat with a knife. She cringed and wrapped up that that way of dying wouldn't sync correctly with her style, too. Shinji noticed this, "Heh."

Sanada Akihiko didn't miss the clue and thus mused, "Oh, you see them, too?" The others swiftly turned their attention to her, even the dog had perked its ears in absurd interest.

"See what?" Yukari huffed in annoyance; all these hyperbole responses she got from them had rendered her defenseless to bad manners.

"The Rebound of Death," Mitsuru stated ominously, observing her guest's reactions like a hawk, the same went for Minato. The difference in the red head and the blue head was that nobody noticed the blue head doing so. Yukari only mouthed a small 'oh' and inwardly started contemplating ways to get out of there. This peeked Mitsuru's interest. "You don't seem surprised."

"Well, yeah, I've seen myself die in a mirror more than a few times." The brunette shrugged bitterly. Watching your own death wasn't quite the forgettable experience. "I'd be surprised if I was actually surprised."

Shinji raised an eyebrow, that last sentence was confusing to him. "Not half bad." he exclaimed after he understood, kind of.

The girl eyed him, but said nothing. She was almost convinced that whatever she was going to say wouldn't change that guy's opinion about her. Not that she cared, anyways.

"Phase one: ignorance." Mitsuru voiced loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. They agreed in a slow and silent nod as the stranger gave a questioning look at them, even the dog seemed like it actually understood what they were blabbering about. "I see. How long have you been able to see the Rebound of Death?" Mitsuru asked, now in full attention to her guest. At least, beside breaking things and kicking dogs, she had another thing to be talked about. And it was no ordinary thing to have at the moment.

"About three weeks?" Yukari herself wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question. Those nightmarish images had seriously taken a toll on her morale and sanity. This time, she pinched a glance at Minato, who professedly had saved her ass two times. The second time being her blackmailing him, but no one was harmed, so all was well that ended well.

She gave a short applause in her heart for how shallow her fact-denying skill was.

"And you only showed signs of losing sanity in the last few days?" Akihiko asked, he was interested, too, apparently. It wasn't really common for people to experience the Rebound of Death and didn't go crazy at the first time. They even lost their selves in the occurrence, adding cases to Apathy Syndrome.

"What losing sanity? I'm finely sane. I _can_ think right now." Yukari defended. While it was true that she had been watching horror in any kind of reflecting surface –which sucked so much she had been acting weird lately, stepping on roses, anyone?- she was perfectly capable of detecting danger. "Well, for example, I know that guy right there," she glared menacingly at Minato, "is an axe-murderer –trust me, I _saw_ an axe outside- and have been enslaving pure, innocent children to a someplace slave industry."

The others turned their heads to said guy and gave questioning looks to him. They demanded one answer. _What have you done to this girl, jerk?_

 _Ungrateful troublemaker_ , Minato snorted in mild irritation. "It's the effect of Rebound of Death, why are you guys blaming me, seriously?" He had started to pity the girl, really. He thought about the possibilities of this vulnerable girl meeting actual dangerous people, she could end up floating on the nearby river, dead.

"I am _sane_." said Yukari convincingly, making Minato snort loudly in response. "Guys, how can you be so calm around this guy? That breath you took just now could be your last breath today!"

"Whoa, calm down, chick." Akihiko tried to lower the building tension, if they had let it be, somebody could end up floating on the nearby river, dead. "First of all, what's your name?"

Yukari eyed him in suspicion. Could she trust them? They had technically kidnapped and threatened to _smite_ her just a while ago. It might be best to keep the act on being the president leading a group of getting rid of Apathy Syndrome until she was eventually free of these nuts.

"Worry not, we are no suspicious people." Mitsuru provided reassurance, which was utterly useless for the brunette. It actually did the exact opposite of what the redhead might have intended. A minute passed before Mitsuru continued the count, "Phase two: irrational distrust towards everything."

After the girl in question only granted moments of silence as a reply, Shinji became enraged and snapped at the little girl, "Speak up, dammit, I'm tired of waiting!" This totally proved her suspicions of them, by default; she reached to the baseball bat in case someone did something weird. Shinji realized this and quickly glowered, all patience lost, "We should smite her. Bury her alive with missing backbone."

Minato, Akihiko, and Koromaru only watched in slight disdain, not doing any effort to do something, anything.

Just as World War III about to begin, Mitsuru managed to get in between both alarmed parties, cutting their ridiculous fight instantly. "Shinji." She warned with icy cold eyes.

Said boy gulped and sat back down, sinking himself even deeper than before that we could only see his hands that were giving the middle fingers to Yukari.

Middle fingers? Really? That's so childish. Yukari had had enough of all this nonsense. "I'm sorry, but can I go? I don't know why you guys are so interested in that Rebound of Death or whatever, but I certainly don't want to get mixed up in whatever sick thing you're planning to do. I don't even know who you are, nor am I certain of your sanities –are you sure you should be questioning me and not yourselves?" She got up, fixed on leaving once and for all. She couldn't waste her precious time with these ill people, badness was contagious. When she received no response from any of them, she sighed in relief. Perhaps they were annoyed by her, perhaps she had hit a nerve, but whatever it was, they had let her go, and it was all that mattered. She smiled, "You guys aren't that bad. Thank you. I hope we never meet again." The brunette walked to the main door, not even bothering to take the baseball bat with her. She would be free, now.

"And what are you going to do?"

It was Minato's voice.

"Not of your concern." Yukari replied solemnly, turning the doorknob, her heels hitting the floor bitterly. "I always could-"

"What, destroy other people's things? That's what a sane person does?"

At this point, Shinji was no longer drowning in the sofa and was intently watching the scene occur, the same went for Akihiko and Mitsuru, though the four of them, plus the dog, were ready to use violence to have the girl with them. She had a chance of potential, which was enough reason. Minato knew as far that the girl was going to take her own life soon if no one acted on it.

"Phase three: denial."

Unacceptable, how could they judge her as in denial when they knew nothing of had she been through after the incident that burned her parents alive? "Oh, yeah? What's the fourth phase, me going mad?"

"Either that or death awaits you." Akihiko took the initiative to answer this time, since the rest of them remained unwilling to drop the bomb. What they didn't expect, however, was her response to that. They anticipated shock, sadness, and the like. Yukari didn't even give the honor to any discomfort; she just rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Sure, why not?" with that, she turned heel and slammed the door shut.

''

At the previous house, with starry layer of the dark night sky hovering them like the plague, three adolescents sipped on their warm teas with scornful looks on their youthful faces. Mitsuru was upset because she profoundly believed she had done a well-managed job at giving necessary information to the lunatic brunette an hour ago. She refused to say otherwise despite the nagging Akihiko kept shoved to her face.

"I did an excellent work." She had announced stubbornly.

Shinji snorted sarcastically, "You scared her shitless." The room supported a dead silence as Koromaru simply decided taking another nap would be more beneficial to it than to listen to some immature fight of who was wrong and who was right that was about to come. "So, what now?"

Still, they looked expectantly at the redhead for an order, any order. They knew they couldn't let the little girl just by herself; it was inevitable for them to save her. Mitsuru was a very goal-oriented leader, but she was obviously the best from the rest of them at leadership. Akihiko would probably sign them up for a boxing club, Minato would most likely not do anything to lead at all, and Shinji was no better than said useless young men, he would just disband the group without any apparent reason. To honor animal rights, we should leave Koromaru out of question.

"I don't want her or anyone to die." Minato said in a thin line. "I might not know her, but we can't let them devour anymore spirit."

Akihiko seemingly agreed. "What about Fuuka?"

This time, Shinji replied after blowing a full yawn, "I went to check her up last night." He could almost _sense_ Yukari's inexistent groan of dismay, it was still _last_ night. Ignoring the dumb omen, he continued the report, "They said she will wake up in a week or so, if we're lucky, less than a week."

"That's good news." Mitsuru nodded comprehendingly. "Minato, I will appoint you the mission of finding… Who was her name again?"

"We don't know her name." Minato answered in solemn.

"Finding that girl and bring her here by all means required." Mitsuru calmly nailed it. Not blaming the lateness of the hour, it was natural to be weary at this time of the day. In less than three hours, the sun would rise and make searching for a person easier. "You may go when morning comes."

However, Minato was already wrapped in his jacket, holding Mitsuru's motorcycle's key. "Now is fine."

''

After eight hours of aimless walking, the first thing Yukari regretted was not stealing provision from that creepy house. Sure, the inhabitants were crazy –and dangerous! - but they seemed well enough to store foods in their fridge. She could really just take an extra minute to pinch their food into a plastic bag or anything that could hold it. She was sure they wouldn't mind, since they let her use their bathroom, a few breads and jams wouldn't hurt, right?

The brunette trotted through the small stairs that descended down to a secluded beach. It was in the middle of the day, the sun shone brightly at her as if enjoying her homelessness and sufferings, the fact that she was hungry also didn't help one bit. That 'phase four' crap better happen soon, Yukari was tired of keeping herself alive. It had become a chore to just keep on keeping breathing. Her burnt lungs and damaged body would as well be a dead weight at this point.

Sweating and cursing, she found a shady coconut tree near the seashore. It looked comfortable enough to sit under and probably to sleep under, too. It's arguable if she was truly to doze there, but it was certain that her legs wouldn't allow her to go any further without breaking. She valued her legs, and besides, she was already far enough from that damned house. There was a 100% sureness nobody would create such useless fuss over someone like her napping under a coconut tree.

"Ouch," Yukari yelped as her bare hands yet again pricked thorny bushes. She didn't notice them there before. She gave last-minute thought to it, was she perhaps already hallucinating things? She sighed in satisfaction of her body putting into rest. Sitting under a tree was never a bad idea. After better positioning herself, she hummed a goodnight to whoever passed by. No one passed by. She would think of other things later, for now, she would just drift into the dreamland.

A place where it wouldn't be a sin to dream to forever sleep on her once lovely bed.

''

Last chapter was confusing haha I was confused too, tbh.

Thank you, **LastDragonborn** , to keep reviewing. Honestly. It goes to you, too, **Fireminer**.

08/04/2016 ~NollyLvn


	4. Chapter 4

That was a big load of crap. Oh well, gonna go with the plan and maybe rewrite things later. Feel special, it's made for you.

''

 **Like a Paper**

 **Chapter 4: Dots**

''

"That's quite a walk." A voice forcefully cut her meeting with the creepy Sandman.

Yukari grumbled incoherently. After cracking an eye open only to be met by Minato's flat face, she grumbled even louder and simply shut her eyelids down. Minato and the world would have to wait until she felt like dealing with them.

"Phase five: acceptance."

The sudden proclamation took the half-awoke brunette's attention. With forced energy, she wistfully looked into Minato's eyes, trying to find some sort of hidden clue. Her intelligent move was to glower at him when she didn't find any, "Stop the stupid talk." She hadn't accepted anything, she hadn't _died_. She held back the illogical urge to hit his head; what a sick emo. There was a beeping sound somewhere but she paid no attention to it. "Seriously, leave me alone. What are you, a stalker?"

Unable to literally walk out and scar neither his physique nor his pride, Yukari rubbed her temple with dry patience and yelped in surprise when her fingers knocked into each other. She quickly retracted, frowning at her injured hands that now donned streaks of ugly dried blood. It actually didn't hurt as much as before, still, the pain was there. Minato sighed as timid winds blew the moist coconut leaves.

All of a sudden, her stomach rumbled a horribly loud noise. The boy crooked an eyebrow at that. Blushing hard, she tried to avert the growing shame to something other than her burning face. "H-How could you find me?" It was all she could think of. The barely rational part of her mind felt sorry for herself.

"I placed a tracking sensor on your shirt." He showed a rectangular gadget that she thought was beeping every few seconds. "It's almost funny how you haven't realized it considering the noticeable size and cold, hard texture of it." Minato chuckled a little, playing the small gadget with his hands.

Now that he said it, Yukari felt something weird on her back. Lifelessly, she unplugged the tracking sensor, wildly threw it to the bushes, and tried to get up, once again, like the annoying déjà vu; her legs chose to fail her. Where was that energy when she needed it? At this rate, she could only shoot daggers at Minato for existing and murmured, "…I hope you fall of a bridge, get raped by a shark, and get eaten by it."

Minato cringed, perplexed. So, now it's his fault. He waited for another cuss she'd probably throw at him, but she didn't and instead merely averted her eyes elsewhere. She was secretly glad there wasn't any reflective surface in sight, before demanding bitterly, "Go away, please."

Although they both knew she didn't have any malice in her words. She was just tired and wanted to have some rest. Fate was being nasty to her. She absorbed her surroundings with narrowed eyes. There was the sunshine grinning coyly at her, the tides of the sea were high enough, and the air was damp and cold with no sign of people nearby. Thankfully, her right mind could still conclude it was morning. Wow, she was out for nearly an entire day.

Minato watched her deadbeat exhale and was about to show a piece of mirror to her face. He wanted to prove something, but then the girl sighed again and slowly drifted to slumber. After a moment of awkward standing and observing, he decided to let her be.

He reported to Mitsuru that they would be back in a few hours. "Yeah, she's here, exhausted and asleep. I ask a prolonging time for a few hours."

At the other line of the connection, Mitsuru nodded to Akihiko and Shinji. "Alright. We will check Yamagishi later. Don't screw her any further and be safe."

Minato laughed and ended the call, "Sure thing." He then proceeded to go to the nearest food franchise to have some meal. It wasn't easy following a girl who just walked into any path she could find. He was almost grateful she ended up in a beach rather than in some place where a high rate of criminality wasn't unusual, like the streets or the back alley of Port Island.

''

Stunning black sky painted itself above Yukari with a wicked smile. Drips of water sang like an endless lullaby as she inched closer to a figure standing before her. Tilting her small head to the side, the brunette ignored the howling wind.

"Let yourself free," the pretty figure said with such a calming voice that Yukari closed her eyes in contentment. "Break the chains."

The little girl examined the figure –that was, in fact, a girl with short blonde hair and shiny cyan eyes like tranquil oceans. She was beautiful, so beautiful that Yukari opened her mouth but nothing came out. Behind the young woman was the scenery of a burning house, screams, and tears. The brunette went rigid at the view, averting her eyes to the pretty girl for any reassurance. However, she only received a smile as her guide.

Yukari cried as she fell into a hole, with the beautiful girl desperately threw an arrow into it, stabbing the girl right in the heart.

The stars shone kindly tonight.

''

It was already dark when Minato came back and a pair of glaring brown eyes greeted him pointedly.

If looks could slay, he'd be halfway through the sea of souls, journeying to Hell. Needless to say, he raised an eyebrow and asked what would be the problem now. "What's-"

"I don't trust you."

Well, that ought to happen. She had been exposed to her own deaths in the last twenty-one days. Plus one for today. Of course, it wouldn't be an easy task to trust someone who claimed he had died. "Right." He agreed as he shook the sand out of his shoes simply, doing anything other than that would panic the girl.

Yukari wanted to leave as far away as possible, really, but the smell of food infiltrated her nostrils and she was stuck there gawking at the takoyaki Minato was holding. She hated to admit she was dying of hunger. After three noisy cries of her stomach, Minato sighed at the pathetic scene of a girl in starvation until he just decided to give the plastic full of takoyaki to her.

"I don't need it," refused the brunette, however, her stomach didn't cooperate with her and just sent an angry set of more rumbles. _Thanks, body._

"You've gotta eat –no, I didn't poison it." He shoved the plastic to her lap, stopping her from voicing her accusation of him. "I can't save someone who's dead."

Opening it with blushing cheeks, she still tried to rebel. "What, do I look like I need to be saved, hero?" Suddenly, she remembered her last dream. It was oddly different from her usual dream of running and screeching. She decided she would think of that later, if _later_ existed.

"So, you wish to go after your parents? That's very brave." The sarcasm was dripping wet but she couldn't care less.

Why would she? It was such a peaceful night with butterflies dancing and birds singing along, it's a good day to die! She hummed happily as she munched on the meal.

"I'll tell you this; to be alive, dying is not an option."

This made her intake pause. "Didn't you say there's only death or insanity waiting for me? I choose death, then. It's cooler and a lot easier." She continued eating, it was almost hilarious. She didn't intend to live any longer yet she still tried to fulfill one of every living being's obligations. It was so hilarious she wanted to punch another hell out of a window. "Is death really that scary?"

That's a weird question to ask. Minato pondered an acceptable response, "It could be."

"Now we're talking," Yukari nodded and gladly proceeded for a second of her breakfast. It was a perfect day to die; at least she wouldn't die starving. With her stomach filled, the little sanity she had left came back, knocking some common sense into her head. Shyly, she muttered a small, "Thanks for the food."

"Don't mention it." He said, moving to sit at a distance from her. He was cautious of her mind being on the verge of fourth phase of Apathy Syndrome; she could suddenly choke him to funeral and wouldn't be blamed of any tort, it wasn't her crime to be eaten by the disease.

Yukari noticed his strange attempt and the manifest, unsightly look of his. "You look really awful, you know that?"

That gained a snort from Minato. "One to talk with those cuts and bloods." He wore a jacket and jeans with the usual Converse shoes. He did have a few cuts from yesterday night's mission though. What made him awful was his attempt to get into Yukari's good side, and she knew that. It was almost painful to watch.

She shrugged, "I have a legit reason." She was more sensible now, grateful that she even told every functioning cell of her brain to not cry in joy. She was so damn _emo_. Disgusted at her yesterday self, she promised to not do any more diets, especially the ones exceeding three days straight.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, the empty plastic bag flew helplessly to the sea. They would probably be blamed for loitering around, but for now, they had direr problem to discuss about. Being the gentleman that he thought he was, Minato broke the silence. "Still gonna die?"

Yukari gave some thoughts to it, "Who knows?" She shrugged and walked to the sea to meet her blurry reflection. "Even I refuse me." She regarded her drowning image—it was flapping its hands and legs violently, as if mocking its real self out the surface—on the water and laughed bitterly; it truly did a great job.

"It does, it's a fetch, after all." Minato nodded understandingly, looking into his own reflection that was looking into Yukari's drowned reflection. His _fetch_ then stared back into Minato, shrugging its shoulders as if saying there was nothing it could do. The boy hummed lowly, having the same opinion as his mirror image.

The brunette spent a short amount of time envying their interaction; it would be helpful for her if her reflection were that agreeable. "A fetch?" She inquired as the tide slowly went back to the sea, calling for its replacement.

Minato pointed to her reflection that was tirelessly taking off its own life, "That is what we call a fetch. It usually happens to a person to tell them about their coming death." Yukari made a 'wow, I'm gonna die soon' with her mouth. Minato let out a chortle, "You must have seen death in the near past, right?"

"Right, three weeks ago, when my parents died saving me." The girl admitted without any expression. She hadn't cried ever since the accident, not even once. The fire wiped out all her things cleanly. So clean that she thought it burnt her emotions as well. She was grateful for that, or else, she would be crying like a child now. "Two deaths at a time, now that I think about it."

Minato stayed silent, praying for peace for her deceased parents in solemn seconds before continuing, "Seeing death exposes you to the subconscious mind, more specifically your fear of death. It was always there, but since you are now aware of it, it manifests itself as what we call a fetch," he pointed to her reflection that she refused to follow. If its sole purpose was to make her suffer, she declined wholeheartedly. "Or _fylgja_ in Norse lore."

Yukari leaned on one leg whilst crossing her hands, "So death is definite for me." Her fetch laughed frantically, gaining a roll of her eyes. "Sure, let's get on with that. Can you lend me a ro—no, poison would suit me better. Where can I get a poison?"

The pharmacy would be the place, milady. "Calm down, listen to my elaboration. You are still on the third phase, so salvation is still possible. More so, you have the potential to be a seeker." Yukari untied her lips to voice the impending question, however, Minato beat her to it. "A seeker is a person who has accepted their death, generally."

All these information rushing into her system made her nauseous. Surely, it would be easier to understand if she had eaten more food. She intended to ask for more, but that would make her sound rude. "That sure is not confusing, sir."

Minato laughed quietly, "Isn't it?" Understandable, she had just gained back her senses a while ago, demanding her to get it the first time would be tasking much on her. "Why don't you try the Glitch, then?" Vaguely, he remembered Mitsuru's warn to screw her no further. He entertained the idea for a while before being more aware of Yukari's current state.

The girl just stared at him dully. She was beyond asking questions, it was more efficient if she just stayed silent and listen.

The blue-haired boy made a pleased smirk, at least as pleased as his blank face allowed. "It happens every midnight, an error within the world of reality and idealism that can only happen to the fourth-stage victims of Apathy Syndrome and those who have the potential."

The girl made an 'O' with her mouth. "What stage am I now?"

"Almost four."

"What time is it now?"

"Eleven past fifty."

Nice. "Keep going." The girl waved goodbye to her blurry reflection on the tides, it responded by vomiting blood.

However, Minato didn't and proceeded with checking his stuff. Turned out he only brought a hand gun and a switchblade with him, making him unsure whether it was sufficient or not. He shortly regretted Yukari not bringing the baseball bat with her; maybe it would make visible difference than two small knives. "Let's go back."

Yukari, now out of her contest of who would be more pissed with her _fylgja_ , exclaimed in surprise, "What? No! I want to see this Glitch."

"You've seen it." He deadpanned, turning the engine of Mitsuru's motorcycle. "Those nightmares haunt you every time you sleep, don't they?"

If Yukari had heard him, she didn't show it, she kept her legs planted on the sand, refusing to leave from her spot. For once, everything made sense to her, her _alive_ reflection, her insanity, her death. It composed a beautiful harmony for her hopeless life. She was shallow and she embraced that fact with a smile on her lips. "I've been waiting for this." Was this what he meant by 'accepting one's death'?

"What are you doing? Your _pneuma_ is still low, don't even dare!" Minato shouted exasperatedly to her. The Glitch would happen in a minute and if she didn't get on, she'd be devoured. She hadn't accepted her death at all, she just gave up on it. "Get on!"

But why should she? Her parents were dead, her means were gone, and her life became miserable. What part of it would deserve to be spared? Yukari meekly kicked the sand into the tide, filling her fetch's mouth with it, killing it. Her eyebrows rose at the scene, "Whoa."

Then, in a split second, the world changed filter. Everything turned darker, the sky turned a sick shade of green, the moon turned a ghostly shade of yellow, and the ocean turned a daunting shade of scarlet.

Yukari was either too shocked or too awestruck to move. Finally, she muttered slowly, "So, this is Glitch." She searched for her reflection, but it wasn't there. She looked around, but it was nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Where's-"

Suddenly, Yukari's leg was pulled into the tide. She cried as she felt excruciating pain on her left leg. Thrashing on the shallow ocean of blood, she coughed and tried to get up as the sharp pain kept stinging her pitilessly. She hissed with clenched teeth, she was sure her leg was ruptured.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" A voice like her own asked.

Looking up, Yukari saw herself standing in front of her. Her impersonator, however, had fiery golden eyes instead of her brown ones.

It spat the sand and sneered at her with cruel delight at her state. "May I inflict more pain to you?" It was about to break Yukari's neck who was still lying on her stomach when it flew to the far end of the beach, screeching.

 _What the serious hell._ Despite the shock, Yukari got up, ignoring the throbbing ache in her leg, her previous injuries on her hands were now starting to reopen. She could only stiffen her jaw as the red liquid of the ocean infiltrated the scars. After pushing the girl's copy quite far, Minato called for reinforcement through the device on the motorbike, and tossed the dagger whilst shouting to Yukari to get as far away from her copy as possible. "I can't, stupid! My leg's broken!" She yelled back angrily, not minding the dagger's existence at all.

For a moment, she wondered why she was angry if she had wanted to die.

Minato cursed under his breath. Her impersonator was coming straight up to her; he got no time to waste thinking of better ways to escape. Yukari was wounded, not only could she not flee, she also wouldn't fight now. True enough, she only stared at her grinning copy as it pierced her hand with the dagger Minato had thrown earlier. The blue-haired boy then kicked its leg hard enough to break it, it cried out in pain, and knocked Yukari out cold.

Silently, Minato wondered why he saved someone who didn't want to be saved.

''

Bear with me, myself. And wow, does this software aid so much. Actually, how do you use '—' and '–'? Am I doing it right? Oh, and we'll have Yukari be valued next chapter. I have it typed a few days ago, but my sister was persistent, so here I am outside the house at 3:17 AM with the stars hovering like the unreachable spots they are. Is that Saturn, right there? …Nah.

Thanks for your support: **Tatsuya Goddamn Suou** and **Fireminer**!

So, kind readers, any thought?

04/17/2016 ~NollyLvn


	5. Chapter 5

First of all, let's carve in mind **A Dog in Fox Clothing** 's quote that _length isn't everything_ _ **.**_ Thank you for telling me that, if you're reading this! I truly have a lot to learn haha XD

Second of all, nah.

Third of all, I'd like to thank **Sacrenix** for beta-reading this chapter. Thanks, bruh.

Without further delay, let's dig in.

''

 **Like a Paper**

 **Chapter 5: Ellipsis**

''

"You need to stop waking up like that," Minato's voice crept into her eardrums when she opened her eyes, stirring contentedly on a rather dusty bed. The grime infiltrating her nose stimulated a choked cough that Minato's act of hospitality was to give her a cup of water, which the girl pretended he did not and just looked around for his evil cohort.

However, the scope was all hers to have. Yukari blinked, "What happened?"

"You passed out," Minato informed simply after he put back the rejected glass down, waiting for the effect of the words.

The statement knocked her aware of her situation; pale blue-colored walls, a commode with a stack of breads and a cup of water on it—she made a mental note to chug it all down as soon as he disappeared from within earshot—and windows adorned the spacious room. There was even a workbench near the end of the bed. Suddenly, realization struck her like the red light, "You!" She sprung to the nearest wall cagily, eyes hateful as if looking to an incarnation of Loki, in the bad terms. "You knocked me unconscious."

"I did." The boy let out a worn-out sigh. It sure would make his day if the girl just stopped freaking out creating weird assumptions. There were many things he regretted, but right now, he berated himself for not seeking with Fuuka three days ago; she would handle this better than he would.

"Explain," demanded the brunette.

A soundless moment passed before Minato chose to break it by taking out his phone and dialed Mitsuru's number. Only to end it a second later—no, he wasn't Akihiko who would call up a person only a floor above him. He wore a questioning look to Yukari who was busy contemplating ways to keep him fifteen meters away from her. He took a slice of bread from the table, "Let's meet the others downstairs," and forcefully shoved it into the girl's mouth to keep the impending protest when he pulled her from the bed towards the corridor.

Her previous mental note was forgotten.

''

Yukari and Minato walked into the lounge and were faced by three seniors there, seizing them up and down, specifically the girl. Minato had told her that they were Kirijo Mitsuru, Sanada Akihiko, and Aragaki Shinjiro respectively, twelve years old, supposedly making them her seniors. Mitsuru and Akihiko both exhaled in relief as they saw the brunette acting normal. Shinji just snarled at her. "Look who's back and gonna go batshit again."

Really, if there weren't three other people in the building, she would just satisfy her urge to choke the living crap out of him.

"Shinji," warned Mitsuru menacingly, the only person who could silence the wild male. Shinji knew better than infuriating the Kirijo heiress, besides, one hole in the windows was enough. "Takeba, how are your injuries?"

Truthfully, she forgot she was injured until that moment. "Fine, I guess." Although her left leg didn't feel okay at all, it was still bearable. She then inched closer to the sofa in silence.

Minato saw Akihiko's expression and answered their unvoiced inquiry, "She didn't fight her Sheut." The three seniors' disappointed looks made him add, "But she still eats, a lot."

The redhead nodded in slight relief, at least her body willowed the mind, "Good." She faced the intrigued brunette at the end of the couch, playing dangerously with a pencil in her hands. "In what part do you not get it, Takeba Yukari?"

Everything. _Every single thing_. "Who was she?"

"It's your cowardice, girlie," Shinji suggested and laughed at the newly sane girl's gesture to stab him with the sharp pencil. "Back off before I break your neck, I'm not kidding."

Akihiko uselessly stood near the door, giving his buddy an eyebrow, "Really?"The dude couldn't even gather the heart to wake Koromaru up if the dog was asleep, and to talk breaking one's neck? Shinji won the internet this year.

"Shut the hell up, before I split your head, too."

"Just go cook pancakes or something," teased the silver-haired boy whilst supporting laughter, but he immediately stopped when ice-cold tone filled the air, credits to Mitsuru. He gulped in fear, "I am sorry, I will not do that again."

Mitsuru did not seem pleased, "One more unnecessary word, Akihiko, Shinji, and prepare for your demise." Both boys shuddered, gulping hard and resolved to fancy their lives more starting now. They weren't looking forward to be buried in the North Pole, nonetheless.

All the time, Yukari didn't realize she had been frowning to their reflections in the mirrors. She couldn't understand why didn't they die like hers.

Later that night after Mitsuru and Minato had cleared Yukari's confusion, they gave the brunette time to think. The blue-haired boy announced to her that she had the potential, thus would prefer her joining their little group to eliminate Sheuts—or in simple, the manifestation people's fear of death, as they explained to her—from this town, and if possible, the Earth. That was a big mission, if you ask her.

In a queer room at the odd house of weirdoes hunting strange mirror images, she stared to her heart-shaped, pink choker. Her parents presented it on her ninth birthday, when life was perfect. She loved life and life loved her. A tear from her left eye fell as she realized one thing, that the idea of defying fate was impossible. Even if she stayed alive, so what then? Wandering on the streets definitely ranked last in her to-do list.

She averted her eyes to the window and saw her so-called Fetch put on the choker, and pulled the ends hard to incite suffocation, being a real 'choker'. Yukari clenched the piece of accessory even harder.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't right.

''

Knock knock.

"Girlie," Shinji called, to no reply from the supposed 'girlie'. "Open the stupid door or I'll tear it down," he threatened into his guest's room. Minato told him to refill her glass of water, really, who did she think she was? A fucking damsel in distress?

Further empty reply from her made him crash his sturdy shoulder into the wooden plank, without even turning the knob that was actually unlocked, making him collide straight to the bed. He shrugged at the broken door, Mitsuru was rich, after all. However, in the next ten seconds the black-haired boy turned 180 degrees, rushed down the stairs and screamed to his teammates, "That girl's gone!"

Mitsuru instantly launched from her newspaper reading, "What? How?" A 'hell if I know' from the Aragaki boy, the redhead then asked Koromaru to trail Yukari by her scent, but the dog's only help was to stop its tail movement and whimpered lowly. It wasn't a walk in the park to sniff some crazed girl who tripped on you and locked herself inside a room all the time, Koromaru would say if it could. Also a sad fact that Yukari had unplugged the tracking device yesterday. Mitsuru groaned indiscreetly. Tch, one lost potential.

Akihiko grew tired of the nonexistent progress they were making and exclaimed, "It's almost the Glitch, we better seek now." He added fast at Mitsuru's upcoming protest of inconvenience and inefficiency, "I'd rather be shallow than not doing anything at all." He said before opening the front door and ran to wherever direction his gut told him.

Sometimes, Mitsuru wondered why Akihiko preferred to act cool at the strangest moments. Sometimes, they forgot Minato's presence was missing.

''

Yukari felt like someone had been following her for the last hour. Midnight was around the corner and according to what they said, not many people could touch freedom in the Glitch, so she would just wait until then to lose whomever stalker who trailed after her. "Bang," she mused wickedly to herself when the moon changed screen, "here comes the divine time."

Coffins spread everywhere, all technology halted as if an error had occurred, with the lack of the infuriating Blue Screen of Death. She saw a luxurious black car and a cracked coffin beside it. Approaching the wooden casket, a faint sob could be heard from inside. She raised an eyebrow, if the 'normal' turned into coffins at the Glitch, then why was this one whimpering and crying? There was a hole beside it, she peeked through the small gap and screamed at the literally dead eyes of the person contained by it. Those eyes bled, scarring their stressed face in the cruelest way.

 _Damn it,_ she cussed inwardly. Never, she promised herself, would she nose into other people's business again.

"Having fun, huh?" Another Yukari with blazing golden eyes sneered at her. The Sheut glanced towards the severely cracked coffin and smiled, "Don't worry, Rio, be free soon." The Fetch then put its hand on the casket, and the cracks got even wider, the human inside it screeched in agony, like a rat burned alive.

Forcing herself out of the deafening horror, Yukari snapped, "Stop it, you're hurting her!"

Oh, how she wanted to take that back since her Sheut did as told and proceeded to kick her to the far end of the street instead. The unhealed wounds on her legs also didn't help one bit.

"You filth, I'm not done with you. We Sheuts help each other, but our first purpose remain the same," it skittered dauntingly to the weakened girl on the ground with an arrow in hand, "to kill our bearers." There was a noise somewhere near but she couldn't care less than this, she was about to be murdered by _herself_. It was suicide in the strangest level. The brunette tried to move, but the stinging pain all over her body rendered her defenseless. "Any last words?"

She did the only thing she could do now, to glare at her own personification of fear. "I don't want to die."

The Sheut raised an eyebrow at that, "No, baby, you don't want to _live_. You asked to be freed from all this earthly matter. You want this." It pointed to itself. If the circumstances were different, it would look like an angel giving salvation to a grotesque young sinner in depression.

"I want to live," Yukari gritted her teeth, enduring pain from her bleeding cheek, salty iron seeped through her trembling lips. Louder this time, she yelled to her copy, "I want to be alive!" An action she berated herself later on because the remaining cells in her system screamed altogether in harmonious misery.

Enraged by the sudden outburst of prevarication, the Sheut stomped towards the girl to lift her a few centimeters above, the ground shaking pale in its wake. Golden met brown, anger faced determination. Her impersonator's nails were digging mercilessly into her neck, but didn't mutter a word. After a moment of desperate cogitation, Yukari kicked its leg, hoping God's mercy to be by her side.

Bad move, the manifestation of her dread and fear broke her right leg with a swift snap of its hand in response to her inadequate kick. Not only suffocating was inevitable, escaping also became impossible for her now. An eerie silence passed once again before Yukari decided to spit on its face, but reality was a harsh mistress, her lamest action of offence failed as her dribble didn't reach her opponent and just fell to the asphalt with a sad thud. Being crazy as she was, Yukari still smirked in a mocking victory. She had made her decision, and if she was going down, she was not going down without a fight.

At the sight of the not PG occurrence, it went still for a short period, then it instantly loosened its grip on Yukari's neck, causing the girl's head to attack the ground hard, coughing blood. It looked down to the brunette with contained fury in its clenched fists, "Stop struggling and go to where you belong."

She knew it didn't mean home or Heaven.

''

Shinji furiously punched Minato's numbers, but no matter how many times he pressed the dial button, it wouldn't connect to his phone. "Dang it!" He slammed the flip-phone shut like a boss. "How's there?"

"Regress." Akihiko provided through the device."Koromaru can't ma—" An annoying buzz replaced the rest of his words.

Awesome, lost signal. Shinji cursed under his breath and continued his mission. That emo Minato said earlier that brown-haired girl encountered her Fetch, that alone spelled trouble. Tonight, her Sheut wouldn't be so kind as to let her go with a few bruises and a broken leg again. Phase Four was always the most problematic.

Shinji cursed again. He needed their Wi-Fi repaired fast.

''

Barely keeping her consciousness, Yukari gaped for air frantically to no avail, her broken ribs stung like hell. Still, she fought the dire urge to rest for even a minute. She rested, she died.

"Why do you fight?"

"I—" blood spluttered from her mouth. See how red her vest was now. "I don't... want to die."

Her Sheut response was to cringe and twitch its fiery eyes. "In arrogance have you drowned, mortal."

One thing Yukari could make out in the slightest glimpse was the shaking hands of her imposter.

"Remember your death, what difference could it make if you died now or later?" It dismissed her recognition of the unstable state of its aim, and continued its effort to daunt the poor girl, "Death is definite. Nothing can change that fact. As soon as you accept that, will suffer meet you not."

"I know." The brunette coughed more iron. If this kept on, she would die from blood loss before even tasting the Sheut's awaited killing. "I know that!"

It merely watched as Yukari tried to get up to a sitting position. It wasn't easy to talk with your murderer with a vertical display. "Life is hard, I know, it became my meal in the last three weeks." A sarcastic laugh. "But I saw those people… they aren't afraid to challenge death. They tame death." More wasted blood.

"Tame death, you said? Hahaha!" The Sheut let out a laughter that could be easily mistaken as the sound of the trumpet. Subconsciously, she was glad everyone was transmogrified, or else, all houses within 200 meters radius would be screaming headless, thinking the savior had finally come down to take them to the afterworld. "Your friend is the devil's advocate himself, you know?"

Ignoring its vague statement about fruits, she got up with the help of the car beside her, holding to it tightly and taking out a dagger from her sleeve. Shakily, she pointed it to her opponent, which it responded with a tiny move from its eyebrows, making a puzzled frown.

''

"Yes?"

"Arisato!" Mitsuru shouted to the transmitter in a sudden rush of panic plus relief at once. "Report your situation at once!"

"I'm fine," came his reply. "Yukari is half mortally wounded, but still alive nonetheless."

In the back of her mind, the redhead applauded Minato's calm demeanor in a pinch like this, where someone like Fuuka would freak out and probably cry like a baby. "Where are you?"

"Naganaki Shrine's front road." Right after the words left his mouth, an earsplitting scream followed the line.

The call was ended right there.

''

"I will live," Yukari said with such beautiful lips adorned by streams of dried scarlet. She put her palm to her bleeding shoulder to keep it from squirming like a fish. "I will make my purpose to be alive."

Without intending to, the copy touched its arrow to stop its trembling. "How will you do that?"

"By making the rest of my life the best of my life." To be frank, it was the most unrealistic, cliché, and naïve sentence she had ever said, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If being a hormone-driven teenager was what it took to persuade her wannabe-murderer to let her live, then that was what she would do. Deleting the thought from her brain, she eyed her copy with undeterred hope, bracing herself for whatever strike that was to face her.

Interestingly enough, her Sheut just observed her, as though looking for something invisible to the humans' eyes. A stare contest between a half dead and a half alive had begun, and neither was backing down. What was her killer thinking, actually?

"Fine," it spoke unexpectedly, surprising Yukari who was anticipating some kind of maniacal stab or punt. The haunter took quite a distance behind, then it held its arrow by two extended arms. "Be judged in the Hall of Two Truths."

As sudden as it crushed the arrow to pieces, blinding light emerged from the ground below her Sheut, making the brunette narrowed her eyes. Like those in games or supernatural movies where you fought demons using magic spells and winds, leaves, flames, or whatever element you might use to get the complicated magic circles shine through your feet like the plague. The broken arrow shifted into a single, long, white ostrich feather. She could see clearer when the rather pointless ray subsided, the only thing defying its will was the quill, glowing with sinister aura surrounding it.

Without any remorse or mercy, the Sheut skewered the beaming fragment into Yukari's heart. Its only reaction to the girl's agonized scream and severe bleeding was to watch in limitless solemn, waiting for Fate to take action.

''

"Arisato!" A shout from afar pulled him from his teeth-clenched seeking.

He didn't need to see the other person's face to know who it was. "Shinjiro-senpai."

"What's with that ugly response?" The bulky boy then decided it was of no importance, he followed his junior posture of crouching and hiding behind a building. The rather disgusting red liquid on the walls got stuck with his favorite beanie, he had the mind to pity himself, but quickly changed steer to the current direst matter. "That girl?"

Minato pointed with his chin to the twins beside an expensive-looking car that had blood droplets spluttered on the front glass. The owner wouldn't be so pleased tomorrow. "She's right there. Her Sheut has taken out the holy feather, but things don't seem in our favor. If the weighing lasts too long, Yukari will die sooner than we thought." A cough added by the sound of fluid being exposed to the ground trailed his announcement.

This made the Aragaki male took out his axe in alarm. "Should we help out?"

"No, she's been doing good." Doing good with not getting killed the second her Sheut materialized out of nowhere in front of her, surely. "If she dies, then her spirit is not qualified to be a seeker, regardless of potential or not."

Despite his composed demeanor, Shinji could see sweats on his face dripping one after another as well as the shaking handgun in his grip. It was these rare scenes that shook his firm belief of Minato's thought process about the problem.

''

With the sturdy head of the feather deepening the rift into her chest, hazy images flashed in Yukari's brain that she couldn't make out which was which. Of hundreds scenes playing in such a short time, she was slapped by a view all too familiar, as if carved with a harsh knife in her memory.

The image of her house and parents on fire.

"Your existence no longer serves any purpose, do you honestly think otherwise?" The Sheut nudged its suffering owner, smirking ever so menacingly to the blackening feather in her chest. It added in amusement, "Ammut will like this."

It was the usage of the word 'will' and not 'would' that scared Yukari. There was nothing she could do except lay limply and prayed for Deus to grant her wish as her killer went to crouch on her, watching the gill turned darker and darker with hawk-like golden eyes. "I..." A throb from her skull. "I don't know who Ammut is, nor do I care..."

For a second, she lamented acting so childish even to talk since it destroyed her lungs and ribs. She was bleeding, useless, and dying. And that fact pissed her off. Was this what that weird guy meant when he said 'you just have to die'? If yes, then it was so rude of him not to mention the misfortunes she had to face beforehand in order for her reflection to stop killing itself.

"There's no way in hell... I'm dying now." Putting her grieve at the throne of her power, she moved her hand to pull the feather from her heart. Oddly enough, the hole didn't cry blood or something of the sort. The hole closed when the feather's process of blackening halted that went unnoticed by the brunette. "My dad pushed me off the window not to let me die... I must live."

Finally out of its astonished stupor, it commented, "That is very selfish."

"I am." She knew she was. A smile to her Sheut was given, although crisp lips and ruptured bones couldn't be considered cute in her current state, "And so are you. Why don't we live once again, this time, really alive?"

That instant, the feather whitened, attacking Yukari's eyes with its meticulous brightness, but she didn't stop. Now that she could see her Sheut better, she realized it was crying. Upon being caught red-handed, it wiped the tears. The girl could feel the confusion inside it; the victim it targeted was asking a second chance.

"Are you being honest?" It questioned, taking the completely shining feather whilst getting up. Its lips trembled at the possibility of future betrayal, "Will you keep your words?"

"I will." Though her body that just chose to cough uncontrollably didn't support the promise right there.

Her Sheut reaction was to laugh with equal intensity. The feather, now gone, transferred its gleam to the giggling failed-murderer. Yukari immediately removed the thought of it might be bipolar with a shudder. A mentally ill Fetch wasn't something she would need. "True of voice," it sighed before proceeded with sending telepathic warnings to Yukari, who responded with utter horror when it shifted into the shape of a bow and an arrow.

Nothing happened for the next minute. The injured girl was still highly cautious, everything seemed flexible enough to turn into anything it pleased, who knew if the wooden arrow on the asphalt suddenly changed to an Archangel or something? Yukari wanted to crawl and touch the still radiating sharp object, but her body couldn't afford that so she just observed from a short distance.

What just happened?

That question rounded and pounded her mind like a tireless mad man. As she felt the suppressed fatigue of being too long in the line of death coming up, one last image flashed across her eyes, like an illusion of springs at the deserts, the previous beautiful blonde from her dream smiled at her.

"Thank you, good luck."

With the last bit consciousness Yukari could gather, she managed to hear the sounds of footsteps and her name being called.

Funny, she thought she hadn't told anyone her name yet.

''

I don't even know anymore. Please, Agidyne me. Hope that mend things up. Should've cut it in the first chapter. Huh…

This took long, sorry, entrance exam and all that lol

Thanks for you who followed and favorited, and special thanks for **Nightly7**!

Uhh, I guess you changed your penname…

(#feels, right, a toast for my lame writing)

So, kind readers, any thought?

05/07/2016 ~NollyLvn


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